Spotted Shadows (teaser)

Something was stirring in the forest. Even the birds could tell, and they took wing every time something moved nearby, this time, the birds were frightened by the soft padding of paws thatwas accompanied by the occasional growl or bark.

“Could you try and not get distracted?” asked a wolf at the head of a small pack. The wolf he was growling at dipped his head and tucked his tail between his legs, whimpering. Lead Wolf was known for his punishments, and none of the other wolves did anything but spare their Lead Wolf and his victim a saddened glance; they just walked on.

“Well, Lukemus?” Lead Wolf questioned. Lukemus bowed and shook his head. Lead Wolf roughly knocked him to the ground, and then called for the rest of the pack to get moving. Lukemus picked himself up and ran behind the pack; he preferred to be a straggler. Lifting his head up to the stars, he gazed in wonder at the shimmering lights above his head, wondering if he’d ever see them again after going to join the Resistance in the forest. Rumor had first reached Lukemus’spack a few moons ago, but none of the pack Lukemus was in wanted to go. But then Lead Wolf came by, and demanded at least a single wolf. Then, Lukemus was thrust out in front, and taken to join Lead Wolf on his journey, picking up other wolves and taking them back to the center of the forest. He padded glumly, hoping to get out of the uprising alive. He had never been much of a fighter. But from the look on Lead Wolf’s face, Lukemus knew his time was running out for him to ditch his pacifist attitude and buck up. Trying to keep speed with the others was causing him to pant, but he stayed silent, watching the other’s tails wag ahead of them. They all seemed eager to join up in arms with the Uprisers’ Army. Sadly, being the only one that was reluctant to fight for a “good” cause meant that Lukemus was bound to be pushed around by the others. Lukemus was smaller than the average wolf, and on the thinner side. No matter how much he tried to groom, his blackish grey fur was always shaggy and dirty. In fact, when he first joined Lead Wolf’s traveling group, Lukemus had been “accidentally” pushed into the river by Lead Wolf because he had lingered behind to drink, much to the amusement of the other

members of the pack. After nearly drowning, Lukemus had to run through the night and the slowly abating temperature and increasing wind speed with his soaked coat, and that caused him to get colder. And to make matters worse, no one had offered to sleep next to him to keep him warm. But Lukemus was used to it; sleeping separate from the others was pretty much all he was expected to do. As soon as they stepped paw into the camp a few days later, they were greeted by a grey wolf with one eye. “Dukis, did you bring some more?” One-eye, as it said was his name on his forehead guard, asked, adressing Lead Wolf. Dukis, or Lead Wolf, seemed to cringe from the voice, and he responded quietly, “Yes, sir.” Lukemus glanced around, feeling a little out of place. The holes in the compound earth seemed to be for storing things like food, and there were a few other wolves hanging around a fire pit that had long been untended. Two of the wolves near the pit were on their backs, tongues lolling out of their mouths. The other three that were lying there had opened their eyes and lazily watched the new group of people. When Lukemus glanced behindthe one eyed wolf, he saw that the trees were extremely dense. In fact only a small amount of sun filtered though, and there was the occasional patch of light that hit the ground. But not it was not enough light to make Lukemus feel comfortable. He could have sworn he saw shapes dodging through the light every once in a while, but he decided it was his mind playing tricks on him. The grey wolf frowned and looked the new recruits up and down. He seemed satisfied with the wolves until his eye landed on Lukemus. He approached and started walking in circles around him, barking questions.

“Name?” he growled. “Lukemus,”Lukemus responded with as much confidence as he could muster. He felt a sharp pain, and let out a yelp, squeezing his eyes shut. He turned around to see the one-eyed wolf his tail in his teeth. Lukemus cringed, seeing some of his black and grey fur caught in the frightening figure’s teeth.

“Sir,” One-Eye spat at him. “Sir,”Lukemus gulped. He opened his eyes, and saw two figures in the tree in front of him. They were wolves, no doubt about that, but Lukemus couldn’t make out their faces. All he could see was the cold glittering of their eyes. After walking around him a few more times, One-Eye nodded to Dukis to take wolves away, but as Lukemus went to join them, he felt a tail on his shoulder.

“You stay here.” Lukemus nodded and watched as One-Eye made motions with his tail, looking at the figures in the tree as he made the gestures. The two figures sprung off the tree branch and skidded to a halt by One-Eye’s side. They didn’t even seem fazed by their impact on the dirt floor ten feet below the branch they had been sitting on.

“General?”The larger red and grey wolf asked, bowing his head in respect. The smaller wolf, a more traditional colored one, patrolled behind One-Eye, every once in a while throwing Lukemus a glance, as if just waiting for him to jump the general, teeth and claws flailing. While One-Eye and the other wolf were talking, Lukemus took the chance to look at the two wolves’ unique dress. The red wolf wore a helmet colored gold with intricate designs and symbols on it, including something written in runes on the front. The helmet covered his whole head, but opened up at the front of the ears, curling around the back of then, but leaving the front open and slits for the eyes and nose. A spike that curved outwards was placed on the part that covered the nose. The helmet only covered the top of the muzzle, leaving the bottom open to bite. The wolf also wore thick pieces of leather that covered the top of his paws to the beginning of his knees on all of his legs. There were three sections of metal on his back, with the two on the outside being smaller than the middle one. They were linked together so that they over lapped, but could bend with a wolf’s spine. There were also knee pads that had spikes on them, along with the steel shoulder armor. Lukemus was appalled at the amount of spikes on the wolf’s outfit. They were all over, and there were even some in his tail, on the leather straps that connected each piece of metal,

and the pacing wolf even had some pierced through his ear. Both of the wolves had what looked like metal claws. The red wolf and One-Eye broke up their conversation, and the red armored wolf came over and motioned for his friend to follow.

“I am Mathio,” said the red wolf while gesturing to himself, “and this is Leom.”The other wolf snorted from beneath his helmet in greeting. Lukemus nodded politely at them. From Mathio’saccent, Lukemus could tell that he was not from around this area, probably from somewhere more east of where his old pack had been. Mathio smiled slightly at him in return. Lukemus saw that he had metal teeth where his top two canines were. They were sharpened to a point. Lukemus grimaced as he thought of the damage those could do to one’s flesh. “Come on,

we’ll show you to Mattie. She’s the blacksmith, and she’ll make you the armor we can’t give you.” Lukemus padded behind the two wolves, and confirmed that they did have spikes in their tails. As Mathio and Leomtook him over to a pit, Lukemus took the time of observe encampment. There were only a few wolves roaming around, and Lukemus wondered to himself why all the other wolves weren’t here. Deciding not to dwell on it, he glanced over to the other side of the camp, and saw that there were a few small huts made out of tree branches piled against each other to form a cone, and covered in large leaves. There was the strong scent of cooking meat coming from inside. The delicious smell caused Lukemus’s stomach to growl, and Leom and Mathio turned around to look at him curiously.

“I’m hungry,”Lukemus said, rolling his shoulders. Leom nodded understandingly. “You’ll get your food soon enough, after we leave the rendezvous camp,” Mathiosaid, motioning with his tail to the small group of huts and straggler wolves behind them. Lukemus glanced up at him, a question forming on the tip of his tongue before Leom answered gruffly,

“That’s where all the new wolves go, and they are given separate jobs. Its usual takes a few suns for each wolf to be assigned. You were lucky that General took a liking to you.” Unlike his

companion, Leomwas more blunt and serious, and Lukemus figured that he would be one to use violence before words. Leomshook his head, dispersing the dew drops that had formed his grey fur, and causing his shoulder guards to clank. Mathio was more lenient towards planning attacks than Leomwas. Maybe that was why they were paired together, as if to balance out their opposites. Sighing, Lukemus trudged behind the other two, carefully avoiding the spikes that would appear next to his face now and again, due to the fact that Mathiokept wagging his tail and picking up speed. Even Leomseemed to perk up, because he lifted his shoulders and glanced up from the ground before his tail swished once in satisfaction. Lukemus decided that they must be approaching the real camp. He glanced around, looking for other forms of life. He saw the occasional stream of light from the sun that was barely leaking through and flashes of metal as other wolves raced by. If he didn’t look hard enough, he wouldn’t even know that there were wild wolves nearby; they were so fast and quiet, like shadows in the forest. They approached a small grove of oak trees in the middle of a forest of pinesurrounded by a wall of rocks, as if they were trying to protect something. Jumping through the trees above, as Lukemus observed, were other armored wolves. There were others remaining motionless in the branches right above the entrance, just watching. Just as they approached the entrance two of the wolves dropped down. Lukemus was amazed that the impact didn’t seem to hurt them at all.

“Password?” grumbled one, skimming Lukemus’s companions up and down. Mathiogrinned slightly. “Uproar!”he yowled and the other wolf chuckled. “Go on in,

then. Get that one,” added the wolf, motioning to Lukemus, “suited up. As far as I know, Mattie is free. She can get him fitted for his helmet. ” “Thank you,” Mathiosaid, nodding to the two wolves. Leomgrowled acknowledging them, before the two wolves jumped back into the trees to be hidden by the black canopy of leaves. Leom and Mathioescorted him down into a hole, the location of the camp he guessed. They pushed in front of him and led him through the dark tunnels. Lukemus saw other wolves

patrolling the cave tunnels as they wandered though. There were torches on the wall, so they didn’t need to use their night-vision to see, unlike Lukemus, who was reduced to being led through the tunnels by feeling the occasional brush of the wolves’ tails. Mathio and Leomushered him through the hallways until they turned into a small alcove in the wall. Mathiopushed his snout against a spot on the wall, and the lanterns sparked to life as they all walked into the small cave. The cave walls were brown, and there were shelves and shelves full of leather scraps. Hanging on the wall were orderly lines of armor. There were the back and shoulder guards, all organized by size. Lukemus shivered as he saw them flicker in the muted light, imagining the damage they had seen, for they looked used. Leomjumped up and snagged a few leather straps off the rack in his teeth. He landed and tossed it to Lukemus’sfeet. “Go on then, try them on,” encouraged Mathioas Lukemus looked down at the gear. Reluctantly, he grasped the straps in his jaws and slung them over his shoulder onto his pack. Leom and Mathiocame over and used their teeth to click the metal back plates together, and then they placed the shoulder and leg guards on, securing them all together with the spiked metal cord.

“Alright, one more thing,” said Leom, jerking his head towards a shelf with the legs pads. He pulled four of them off the shelf and Mathiotied them to Lukemus’ legs.

“Now you have to get your claws and helmet done by Mattie.” The two wolves said the helmet would have to be made uniquely, and took him over to a cave, where Mattie was. They left Lukemus, and said to come get them when his helmet was done, and they would assign him to a patrol and after that, begin his training. After careful considerations, Lukemus decided that the armored wolves were part of some sort of army. And from the equipment he was being given, Lukemus could tell he would be in it also. Sighing, Lukemus stepped into the cave, and was immediately hit with a miasma of smoke that sent him into a coughing fit, and his eyes started to water.

“Hello?” he called out in a raspy voice, caused by the smoke that he inhaled.

A shape plowed its way through the smoke, and he squintedhis eyes to see a white shewolf with black spots of soot blemishing her coat. Her muzzle was scorched, and scarred, as if she’d seen many battles in life. For some reason, Lukemus felt as if he wasn’t worthy of looking in her piecing yellow-green eyes and stared at his paws instead. From the corner of his eyes, Lukemus saw that the she-wolf, Mattie, he assumed, has pointed her snout up and observed him, sniffing.

“New, are we?” Mattie growled out. She didn’t seem impressed by Lukemus. He nodded in response, and Mattie nodded briskly. “Follow me, then.” Lukemus watched her retreating through the mouth of the alcove, following a small glow of fire from ahead. For such an old wolf, Mattie was surprisingly agile, and Lukemus had to pull out some of his reserve energy to keep up with her. He was close to collapsing right there on the floor if given the chance. Mattie stopped ahead and crawled through a hole under a wall, beckoning him with her tail. Lukemus was sick of holes and stone caves already. Reluctantly, he followed down into a small forge. There were carvings on the walls of the circular room, and shelves of metal teeth and claws. Under the shelves in front of Lukemus were helmets and swords, reflecting dully in the fire light. After his eyes adjusted, he saw Mattie walking over to him with some claws and teeth in her mouth, and she seemed to be chewing something. “Hold out your paw,” sheordered him, and Lukemus obliged. She spat the thing out of her mouth, and pushed it into the metal items with her un-armored claws. Lukemus was surprised to see that they were hollow, and slid his claws into them, and did the same for his teeth.

The lackluster metal of the claws

contrasted against the shiny metal on the other side of the room, and from the look of it, they were made of different metals. The claws and teeth seemed more for daily wear and tear, as the swords seemed like they were delicate, like a glass vase, and could shatter at just a wolf touching his nose to it.

“Now, I just need to get you a helmet,” Mattie said, pulling Lukemus from his thoughts. She looked him up and down, sizing him up, before snatching a helmet with her teeth and bringing it over to him. The helmet was a dark grey, as dull as his new claws, and when she put it on his head, Lukemus knew that it was going to take some time to get used to lugging that thing around on his head. After some quiet mutterings to herself, she took the helmet to the back, and pulled out a small carving took, gripped it in her teeth and engraved into it. Lukemus tried to see what she was drawing on his helmet, but every time he tried to look over her shoulder, he received a sharp growl that sent him into a corner, waiting for her to be finished. At last, she dropped the carving and painting tools and dropped the helmet at his feet. The helmet was carved with intricate tribal symbols, swirls and drawing, all painted in a dark blood red. Lukemus thanked her, and Mattie placed it on his head. A sudden emotion filled his chest, as if he had just accomplished something important. Suddenly, Mattie cocked her head to the side, as if she was listening. Lukemus strained his ears, but heard nothing. Mattie snapped at the air in a frustrated jerk.

“Calling a meeting now, of all times…” Mattie snarled. “We’ve got to get to the Center Hall for a gathering. Leader seems to think now is the time to call a meeting.” She glanced down at a shadow on the floor, and howled quietly. She shadow stirred, and danced across the wall to sit beside her. Lukemus stared at it, and leaned down to sniff it, but I spat at him, arching its back. “I

see you’ve met Ilyim, my familiar. He was once a cat, but I saved his soul from another power hungry animal, and he is now bound to me.” “How come he’s just a shadow?” Mattie laughed as if that was the stupidest question she was ever asked. “He’s a soul, so

he has no form but this one, a shadow. Maybe if you’re lucky you can get a soul for yourself. Now, we have to go. Dune’s calling a meeting, and making him angry means torture or death.”

And with that, she fled out of the room, white tail disappearing into the dark corridors, the black shadow on the wall running out after her.

“Dune?” Lukemus was left repeating to the empty room.